Blade package



Sepf. 24, 1946. J; MUROS 2,40 ,222 BLADE PACKAGE I I I Filed March 25, 1944 INVENTOR.

I {i f f'ij uNrrao STATES Patented Sept. 24, 1946 BLADE PACKAGE- Joseph Muros, Cambridge, Mass., assignor to Gillette Safety Razor Company, Boston, Mass, at

- corporation of Delaware Application March 25,

- 3 Claims.

r;This invention relates to the packaging of finefedged" blades for sale and distribution and is herein illustrated as embodied in a novel package of safety razor blades.

In handling. safetyrazor blades under commerical conditions of transportation and :dis- 'tribution and in the more or less casual treatment of such-blades by the user, the extremely fine keen edge of the blade is likely to become dulled by. being brought into contact with its wrapping or with other objects before it can be actually clamped in shaving position in the razor. On this account the best and most skillful efforts of the manufacturer in sharpening blades are often brought to naught because of the damage done to the very fragile and delicate structure of the blade edge after it has been brought to the keenest possible shaving condition and before the shaving operation is actually undertaken.

With these conditions inview, an important ob- -ject of the present invention is to provide an effective and inexpensive blade package which may be readily assembled and sealed by the blade manufacturer, while safeguarding at all times the keen'edge of the blade, and which will then be effective fully to protect the blade or a supply of blades during distribution and sale and up to the time when it is actually introduced into the I razorby the user preparatory to shaving.

I have discovered that a satisfactory blade package may be formed by employing package covers of sheet material molded or embossed to present between theman enclosure for a stack of blades with surrounding flat areas in the covers that may be sealed together in face-toface contact outside the outline ,of. the blade stack. I may employ fiberboard, cardboard, plastic sheet material, or the like, for the material of the package cover and mold cooperating or supplementary pieces of this sheet material to provide similar recesses or depressions of an outline best adapted to contain the particular blade to be packaged. For example, in dealing with a double-edge blade of the Gillette type, the depression may consist of a main rectangular portionslightly wider than the blades to be enclosedand merging at each of its ends into an outwardly extending troughshaped to receive the elongated, unsharpened end portions of the blade. Surrounding this depression in each element of the package cover are formed flat areas which may be brought into face-to-face contact and sealed together. By employing waterproof material for the body of the package cover or by providing it with a waterproof coating, the resulting package may be made thoroughly waterproof and the blades thus Protected for an indefinite time against rusting,

The enclosure formed in the package cover preferably is of such a shape as to hold the en- 1944, Serial No. 528,102 Y e closed blades in position in the package with their sharp edges maintained out of contact with any part of the package. For example, in the case of the Gillette type blade, the trough portions of the depression receive and engage the elongated unsharpened end portions of the stacked blades, thus securely holding them in place with their sharpened edges located in the free unobstructed enclosure of the package. Such package may be completely formed and sealed by the blade manufacturer, the blades being meanwhile handled mechanically and entirely without danger of damage. The completely sealed package will preserve its integrity indefinitely. The opening of the package may be facilitated by setting off in the package a portion of the sealed area by a line of perforations so that the user may easily tear off a sealed marginal portion of the package and have ready access to its contents.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of the cover blank in flat condition;

Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of a stack of blades ready for packaging;

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the blade stack in position in the flat blank; and

Fig. 4 is a view in perspective of the completed The invention is herein shown in its application to the packaging of double-edged blades of the well-known Gillette type, but it is not limited in its application to this or to any particular type of blade but with suitable modification may be adapted to the packaging of blades of any other shape, all within the scope of the invention.

As will be apparent from Figs. 2 and 3, the blade I is substantially rectangular in shape, sharpened at both longitudinal edges and provided 45 with a medial longitudinal slot H having a central circular enlargement and other intermediate enlargements shaped to lit the blade-locating projections of the various safety razors in which the blade may be used. The blade has a reentrant recess in each corner and these define elongated,

commodate a stack of four or five of the blades above described and in the accompanying drawing many features of the illustrated package are adapted for the purpose of fitting theblade just described, and may be varied for the accommodation of blades of different shapes.

The package may be formed from a flat elongated blank of pasteboard or other moldable sheet material, preferably saturated or coated with wax to render it Waterproof. A pasteboard blank of this character is shown in Fig. I being somewhat more than twice the length of the blade to be packaged and having molded therein a pair of identical recesses or depressions each of which includes a main rectangular portion 'IB shouldered and merging into an outwardly tapering trough l1 and into an inwardly tapering commen-connecting trough I8. These recesses or depressions may be conveniently molded or "enitossed into the package cover blank'without danger of breaking or weakening its material. The areas of the embossed blank outside and surrounding'the recesses and trou hs are fiat and lie in a single plane. Going more into detail, narrow longitudinal areas are "pr'dvided along both sides of the main portion 10 of the depression and across the ends of the troughs and these merge into fiat areas corresponding to the reentraht recesses at the blade corners. The blank is divided equally by a transverse scored line H) upon which it is to be later folded ahdwliich intersects the trough i8 that eX't'e'hdsbetWeenthe two recesses Hi. It is also provided at onend with a curved finger recess 20.

Having prepared the package cover'blankby embossing or molding as suggested in Fig. l, the manufacturer may now conveniently place in one of the recesses the stack of covered blades which are ready to be packaged and have been secured together by a staple 2| inserted through the superposed tongues M of the cbvers outside or beyond the ends of the protected blades. A The stack positioned in this manner is'showri in Fig; 3 from which it Will be ap arent that the troughs l'l-i8 receive the unsharpehed end portions l2 f the blades with a snu fit'while the ni'aih portion it of the recesses receives the body of the blades with distinct clearance. Thus the blades are securely held by fitting in the troughs H and it with their keen cu'ttig edges disposed in the clear space of the recesses and so'positiiiely prevented" from making contact with any part of the package. 7

The package is completed by'foldihgthe cover portion over the blade stack thus bringingthe two recesses IE! and their contiguous troughs l1 and it into exact registration the'blade stack enclosed between them. In this rowing operation; the flat areas of both faces of the package cover are brought into intimate and continuous faoe-to-face contact and maybe conveniently sealed together by the application of moderate heat and pressure distributed 'over the flat areas without touching the embossed configuration of the package. When the package cover is wax-coated the instantaneous fusing of the wax forms a water-tight and satisfactory seal for the package. A staple 22 may now be inserted through both sides of the closed package adjacent to its folded end, thus reinforcing the adhesive sealing of the package and fastening the stack of blades in position.

It willbenoted that the troughs I! and I8 taper outwardly in depth and thus merge into flat end areas that may be brought into sealing contact at the end of the package opposite its folded end. In the sealed package the finger recess 20 affords the user a convenient means for bending down the end of the lower cover leaf and so breaking the seal when it is desired to open the package and extract a blade therefrom. Moreover the arrangement is such that the bladesmay be removed one by one from the stack; all without disturbance of those remaining in the package.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail an illustrative embodiment thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent: I

1. An open container rorus'e in forming a blade package, comprising a straight elongated blank of pasteboard hav'ihg' therein a air of substan tially identical rectangular recesses spaced apart and connected through a common trough of less width than the recesses and intersected by V a transverse scored line, the said recesses and trough being surrounded with complementaryflat areas whereby the container may be sealed when folded on said scored line. I Y M 2. A package for razor blades of thetypehaving elongated uns'narpeiied tantru s, a stack of blades in the package, said package including a pair of connected folding: cover sh eets of 1n'oldable' material having walls forming opposed recesses ccnneetu by a common trough intersected by the fold line bf the covers and surr'ounued b'y flat areas, the'rces'ses being shaped to enclose with clearance thebodi esofthe blades in the stack, the (fiver-sheets having 1st; walls forming separate tfougn's' leading from said; recesses, which troughs are shaped to cooperate with the folded sections or the f'said' seamen trough to receive the eleii'gated efid pbrtions of the blades and hold the blade with their edges inthe open space" provided tytiibbbsd recesses. I v

3. A package for razor blades'ofthe meta ing elongated unsharpened end pbrt io'ris, a staek of blades the package, said ack ge including in its structure a pair of similar cover sheets of moldable material having a; foldingconnection and walls therein arming re tahgfilar' reesses of substantially" equal; s ze" ccnnetct ty a coinmon'trough' which is tersected bythe fold line of the covers and'surrtuna'ed b'y flat areas, the recesses being shaped to 'neiose vviui clearance the bodies of the blades in the "stack, die edvj'r sheets having also walls forming naught leading from opposite en or at least orre'or' said ecess'es', which troughs areshape'd to :otrate with the rowed se'ctioris of said cbriii'non trough and to' receive the elongated and iiirubii 6f the blades and hold the'bl'ades'with the edges the open's paceprovid'ed by the said recesses, the said cover sheets being unitedi'ii theirflat areas.

JOSEPH' MU'RLOS'Z 

